I took a slow 8km run/walk to Mrs W on this cold, grey Monday morning. Her garden was mostly well kept, but she explained she can't bend over to maintain it herself any more. She likes it prettily overgrown cos all the "weeds" can have lovely flowers. She said the cowslips are her favourites but I loved her Primula Denticulata that I'd never seen before.

Jobs included pulling up/cutting back all the dead plant matter and cutting down a (willow?) tree growing up through her buddleia. I also levelled a wonky birdbath and even got to plant out some sunflower seedlings! 🌻

Mrs W regaled me along the way with tales of all her travelling exploits along the years. She was ever so grateful and said my bright running clothes and energy brightened her day. She is looking forward to spending some time in the garden again in the upcoming sunny days.

Tonight’s task was with the lovely people from Common Thread who collect clothes donations ahead of a monthly clothes swap, a very sustainable way of changing yiur wardrobe! After a cheeky short firness session in Pound park, the GoodGym crew - made up of Rachel, Yvette, Celine and Matthew - joined Sarah, Nick, Emily and Ollie from Common Thread to sort through baby, children and teens clothes by age; as a challenge, Sarah asked us to identify clothes we wish were in adult size!

We then moved on to adult clothes and well, we had to try some on! We then boxed the sorted clothes ahead of next month’s clothes swap; do attend, it will be on Saturday 12th April (1 - 3pm); full details on Common Thread Facebook page.

There will be more volunteering opportunities to set up and sort on Friday 11/4 evening & Saturday morning as well as to help pack down on Saturday 2-6pm. I’m reliably told volunteers get first choice on clothes! I even took a lovely pink top - the tiger top sadly only came in size 5 years old!

Tonight GoodGym headed to an underpass in need of a thorough spring clean. We met our old friend Simon, and new friend John, to collect equipment from Sustrans' secret lock-up. We gathered shovels, bags, pickers, signs, hoops, and a trolley, then set off to the Netherthorpe tram underpass to start the clean-up. Rachel did marvelous work clearing the gutters of leaves, and the rubbish hidden within them, with her large shovel. James held open bin bags to receive the litter which Rachel swept in. Simon and John, meanwhile, were working with pickers at opposing ends of the tunnel. Notable finds of the night were a complete birthday cake and a large saucepan. The underpass is a busy thoroughfare and we had may people passing through thank us for our efforts which is always very welcome.

By the end of the pick we had gathered 5 full bags of detritus. We took all of the equipment back to the lock-up, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Showroom to stretch off.

Off again to join Pitsmoor pickers. The original proposed location too clean so we headed to the old faithful Spital Hill. Much litter picked and looking much better. Great to see a return visit from Filmon.

Having seen the report from another group recently having the police out and not to be outdone, we called the fire brigade! We spotted an unattended bonfire at the back of a restaurant perilously close to a lot of rubbish bins. Bonus good deed!

report by Rachel

This has got to be the first, but hopefully not the last GG task where we have had pizza cooked for us on arrival!

The legend that is Jess Dawson, mastermind behind Common Thread despite having very little sleep after a missed flight connection was still flying in top form giving us the low down on clothes sorting in preparation for the next Common Thread event.

Common Thread clothes exchanges happen regularly and encourage people to avoid the fast fashion and instead swap their clothes with others to better serve each others wardrobes and wares. A fantastic idea, which should be done in more places.

There was plenty to sort, from shoes, to accessories and clothes for all occasions, shapes, sizes and colors!

We got through a lot of bags in our time at Union St which is the venue that hosts Common Thread.

We'll be back again for more next month.

Until next time, happy running! :)